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The Big Bang Theory Review: Oh, Gosh, Golly, I Made a Boo-Boo

Wow! Wow! I have to say it one more time ... wow! "The Hawking Excitation" was an absolutely hilarious episode of The Big Bang Theory. There were non-stop laughs from beginning to end. Possibly, the best episode. Ever.

Throughout this season, there have been complaints that Sheldon has been over-the-top mean at times - even a bully in one episode. Finally the situation was turned around; Howard could pay back Sheldon for his demeaning attitude all these years.

The dream of many young boys is to be an astronaut and go into space, but not even Howard's upcoming trip earned him Sheldon's respect. Instead, it took the opportunity to meet Stephen Hawking for Sheldon to give Howard any consideration at all. Even then, Sheldon demeaned Howard's profession.

If you can't earn the respect of your friend professionally, you might as well take advantage of the situation, right? Howard's assigned tasks were varied, yet all hilarious. The best part about them was that no one other than Sheldon would have followed through with them. Sheldon may be incredibly intelligent, but he tends to misperceive comments and situations.

The funniest task was seeing Sheldon walk into the cafeteria in a French maid's costume. I'm not sure how Jim Parsons was able to pull that off with such seriousness. On the opposite side was Sheldon's inability to give Howard a true compliment. It was true to character, but sad to see.

Which of Sheldon's assigned tasks was your favorite? Vote in the poll and share your thoughts in the comments.

Cleaning all of Howard's belt bucklesWearing a French maid's costume to workDoing Howard's laundryGoing shopping with Howard's motherGiving Howard a compliment

"The Hawking Excitation" was jam-packed with funny lines, here are a few of my favorites. Check out our The Big Bang Theory quotes section for many more.

Leonard: Raj, you're our group historian. Has Sheldon ever begged before? Raj: Three times. He begged the Fox network not to cancel 'Firefly.' He begged the TNT network to cancel 'Babylon 5.' And when he got food poisoning at the Rose Bowl Parade, he begged a deity he doesn't believe in to end his life quickly. | permalink

Sheldon [in a French maid costume]: What are you all staring at? You ever seen a man try to get a meeting with Stephen Hawking before?" | permalink

Bernadette: Sheldon doesn't know when he's being mean because the part of his brain that should know is getting a wedgie from the rest of his brain | permalink

Stephen Hawking: You made an arithmetic mistake on page two. It was quite a boner. Sheldon: No, no ... that can't be right. I-I don't make arithmetic mistakes. Stephen Hawking: Are you saying I do? Oh, no, no, no, of course not. It's just, I was thinking.... Oh, gosh, golly, I made a boo-boo and I gave it to Stephen Hawking. Stephen Hawking: Great, another fainter. | permalink

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I have a nephew, 25 years of age, with fairly severe autism. He is a very bright boy, who cannot speak in sentences, who wears diapers, and who lives in a group-home. I used to babysit for him when he was a child. It does not necessarily follow that autism (which Sheldon does not necessarily have), connotes a lack of sensitivity to the emotions of others. My nephew is a sweet, caring, sensitive boy, who realizes when others are suffering emotional pain, and who pats them and makes comforting sounds to try to help. Sheldon has been repeatedly told that he is hurting others. He is capable of learning. I still say this episode is a regression in his socialization. Sloppy writing.

I really enjoyed this episode. We could nit-pick about why the physics department would not have access to Professor Hawking without assistance from Howard or any other engineer, but why? It made for a fun episode. I agree with other posters about Sheldon displaying signs of autism (my own Aspergers son identifies with Sheldon pretty strongly) and OCD. However, the producers will never actually come out and say that. It would limit the things they could do with the character. I kind of missed Amy this time around. I'd like to see her reaction to the way Howard was treating Sheldon - and how Sheldon apparently got more action with Howard's mom in the dressing room than he's ever even tried with Amy! Random observation: Is it me, or has Sheldon/Jim Parsons put on some weight lately? He's not fat by any means, but he seems "thicker" or just not quite as skinny/lanky as in the past.

Kady@ Jennifer•January 02, 2014 00:34

I think the consistency of behaviors over all these episodes is fairly well controlled as well as the slipping into a more 'normal' behavior of all the characters - now and then. But yes, Sheldon is not as interesting when he's chubby and 'huggable'.

Ashley•April 06, 2012 21:31

Wolowitz was meeting Hawkins because he was working on Stephen Hawkins wheelchair. Since he is probably one of the best engineers on campus, one of the examples being that he does get to go into space, it makes sense that they would call on an engineer to work on a wheelchair and not a physist. The only point I don't get would be why the physist department can't sit in on his lectures, but if they did that then they wouldn't have an episode where Wolowitz gets to mess with Sheldon. I don't think Sheldon has autism. If you have ever been around really smart people, some of them lack common sense and they take things too literal. Sheldon's germophobia and want for routines is OCD.

Bre•April 06, 2012 20:56

Unfortunately, Bill Pardy does not acknowledge that Sheldon has a medical condition, be it OCD or Autism. He's just a geek with an above-average intelligance, which, I guess, by default, causes you to lack certain social skills. However, if you recall, there was an earlier episode where they featured a physist (sp) who was not geeky. In fact, his only "abnormality" was infidelity. Since this show is going the distance (at least 3 more seasons) I think they should explore this possibility. It would be "fun and educational."

Carla Day wrote,"There were non-stop laughs from beginning to end. Possibly, the best episode. Ever." Since the laughs from me were much less frequent than when I've watched most other episodes, I disagree. The Sheldon character has become merely predictable, and therefore is no longer funny. I think the show would be much funnier if for the next set of episodes (probably next season) the writers thought of Sheldon as merely Ted Baxter from the Mary Tyler Moore show. For you folks making the autism diagnosis (with which I offer no opinion at this time), is extreme selfishness (as opposed to insensitivity to others) one of the symptoms or indicators????

I agree with Joe Barron, if anyone would have been assigned to Hawkins, it would have been Sheldon or Leonard not Howard. It was OK to see Sheldon put through a bit of payback, but then again, as Bernadette told Howard, how fair is it to get back at someone who doesn't know they've bothered you? Penny pointed out the glint Sheldon gets in his eye when he's correcting someone, but that could just be happiness at getting to express himself in an area he knows since people usually talk about personal issues he'd have little interest in.To Sheldon conversations must be like wonk ,wonk, wonk, until something factual or scientific finally shows up.Not having social graces isn't mean if you can't help it. Be honest people, how fascinated are you by jobs you think you're too qualified to do? Do you think most doctors would be handing out compliments to their friends who work at McDonalds? Oh, wait,most Doctors wouldn't even be friends with someone who works at McD.,would they? Sheldon thinks Howard is very qualified at doing something completely unimportant in the greater scheme of things. Most of us feel that way about a lot of workers. We just wouldn't even associate with them or have learned to shut-up when pressed to give an opinion.That doesn't make us better, just more hypocritical.

debbie•April 06, 2012 19:38

The show was fantastic as usual.

Bre•April 06, 2012 18:06

I agree with Joe. It seems lately that the writers are creating plots around the guest stars. They don't make too much sense. I guess that is where comedic license comes to play. The earlier episodes were much better. Thought the writing is still good, the plots are lacking. Comon guys get back on track!!!